Trough



L. S. MARTIN June 25, 1957 TROUGH Filed Aug 14, 1955 FIG. 2

Inventor: Lewis Sa'muel Martin his AH rney TROUGH Lewis Samuel Martin, Harrisonburg, Va., assignor to Shenandoah Equipment Company, Harrisonburg, Va., a partnership consisting of Richard E. Martin and Lewis S. Martin Application August 14, 1953, Serial No. 374,359

2 Claims. (Cl. 220-69) This invention relates to troughs in general and has for its principal object the provision of a trough in which the bail which supports the trough snaps easily and quickly into place and latches the bail in vertical position so that the trough is supported quite firmly.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple bail formed of a single piece of wire and supporting the trough at the sides and at the bottom, the bail swinging freely in alined pivots so as to be easily and quickly removable for washing the trough, usually for supplying water to chickens although the invention is not so limited.

In previous structures of this kind it has been the practice to form dimples in the side of a trough, these dimples being reasonably close together so that the bail cannot swing through any great angle but with such construction the bail will swing to a considerable extent, usually resting on one or the other of the dimples. This construction makes cleaning a bit more difiicult because the dimples are invariably indented outwardly or else they would have no use and this makes an interior indentation which is much more diificult to clean than if the indentation were a rib for example.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical section thru ing my invention;

Figure 2 is an elevation on a somewhat larger scale;

Figure 3 is a central section;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section taken on line 4-4 of Figure 3.

The trough may be of any of the commonly used forms and is here shown as having end walls 11 and a sheet metal piece bent to form a bottom 12 and two sides 14. The sides may if desired end with an in-turned flange 15 altho this is obviously optional. In the sides 14 of the trough there are coaxial holes 16 and directly below each hole is an indentation 17. The latter is considerably elongated vertically so as to form parallel sides 18 and 19. It is my preference that the indentation shall be at least twice as high as it is from side to side and shall be curved as best seen in Figure 4, so that it is sunken or indented to a degree about equal to the diameter of the wire of the bail 20.

The bail has two sloping legs 21 making an angle of between 40 and 60 with the ground engaging portions 22 which are preferably horizontal. Between these portions is an upwardly bent portion 24 which may be spaced quite far from the bottom 12 of the trough but may be in contact with the bottom 12 to give firm support to the trough thus relieving the pivots 26 of much of the weight. The two pivots 26 pass thru the holes 16 rather freely and the wire of the bail is indented as at 27 to snugly a trough embodyatent fit the indentation 17. The bails are quite resilient and it is my preference that the indented portion 27 of the bail shall snugly fit indentation 17 so that there is no tendency for it to have any movement about the axis of the pivots 26 when it is in trough supporting position. The ends of the indentation 17 are curved top and bottom as at 28; and as best shown in Figure 4 the indentations are curved at an angle which firmly grips the indented portion 27 of the bail 20.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a trough of sheet material having on each of two opposite walls a hole and directly beneath each hole an inwardly directed indentation, each indentation having relatively short curved ends joined by relatively long straight vertical sides, the indentation being curved in short cross section and being centrally bounded by a cylindrical surface and curved at its ends in long cross section, of a ground engaging bail of a single piece of resilient round wire pivoted in said holes about its aligned inwardly extending ends, said bail having inwardly directed projections extending into and snugly fitting both of the two indentations to resist movement of the bail about its pivot whereby to firmly support the trough the over-all width of the bail being at least 50% greater than the width of the trough, whereby with increased weight or" the trough contents the inwardly directed projections of the bail will more firmly engage the indentations.

2. A trough of sheet metal having pairs of coaxial holes in opposite vertical walls near each end of the trough a smooth bottom and having an elongated vertical indentation extending inwardly directly below each of the four holes and two bail-like supporting members of round wire each having a base portion, and two leg portions, each leg portion ending in an inwardly directed horizontal pivot and having below each pivot an inwardly directed bend, the pivots extending thru said holes and being coaxial, the bends each snugly engaging a proximate indentation to form a latching portion parallel to and engaging both of the vertical walls of the vertically elongated indentation, each base portion comprising a horizontal central portion and two coaxial horizontal ground engaging portions, one on each side of the central portion which latter engages the smooth bottom of the trough when the bail-like supporting member is vertical, said leg portions sloping outwardly from proximate the inwardly indented bends to the ground engaging portions so the over-all width of the bail is at least 50% greater than the width of the trough, and the engagement of the trough and the central portions of the two bails urge the bends into firm contact with the indentations, and the depth of the indentations being roughly the diameter of the wire.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 246,001 Garrett Aug. 23, 1881 1,466,864 Walker et al. Sept. 4, 1923 1,637,553 Coleman Aug. 2, 1927 2,144,661 Nelson Jan. 24, 1939 2,524,135 Pittenger et al. Oct. 3, 1950 2,612,336 Tuttle Sept. 30, 1952 2,667,392 Sexton Jan. 26, 1954 

